


Sunbeam

by HawkTalonflame



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, Pokemon Mystery Dungeon, Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time & Explorers of Darkness & Explorers of Sky
Genre: Gen, Grovyle's past, the Dark Future
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-14
Updated: 2019-01-14
Packaged: 2019-10-09 21:45:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 483
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17413286
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HawkTalonflame/pseuds/HawkTalonflame
Summary: Even in the paralysed darkness, there are ways for grass-type Pokemon to survive.





	Sunbeam

In a future of unending darkness, a young Treecko fidgeted restlessly. His parents kept him close with gentle clawed hands, waiting alert and wary amongst a ragtag crowd of grass-type Pokemon. 

They all looked exhausted, leaves wilted and brown without sunlight to sustain them. But there was anticipation in the air. Something was about to happen. They all kept looking, watching to the east, but Treecko couldn't see much through the dark and his questions were brushed off. His parents were a bit too cynical to raise his hopes, preferring surprises.

At last, a shape emerged, tiny and bobbing in the distance. Cheers erupted from the crowd. 

"Sunbeam! Sunbeam!" 

Treecko squinted. It didn't look like much, a white and wispy Pokemon. And yet it was hailed with joy as it approached, Pokemon rushing to meet it like a revered hero. It reached the edge of the woods where they'd waited - Treecko's mother bowed and indicated a warped patch of space between two tree stumps - the entrance to the local mystery dungeon. Wasn't that dangerous? Everyone began to file in, and Treecko's father ushered him through as well, offering a rare genuine smile. What was going on?

There was the stranger, smiling gently as Pokemon re-oriented themselves and gathered once more. Excited murmuring. Treecko wanted to demand answers, but then -  
but then.

The Pokemon floated upwards, and -

It transformed. 

Treecko had to shield his eyes, but it was orange, and adorned with orbs - it grew brighter still, forcing him to look away.

But oh, it was warm. Emanating from the creature was this incredible warmth -

All around him, Pokemon unfurled their leaves, stretching up towards the light source. Treecko reached too. He felt as though he could remember this, somehow. It just seemed so familiar, so important.

They stayed like that until, finally, the light faltered. For a moment, the Pokemon - Castform, his father told him finally, though the others were still calling out to 'Sunbeam' - changed back to muted white. But they quickly took a deep breath, and summoned their light once more.

"They say once, the entire sky was filled with this light," his parents told him later. When, after hours and a slow migration through the dungeon, the Castform had retired to rest, and they all returned to a reality that was cold and dark. "Now, we rely on specialised Pokemon like Castform to make it for us. It's something grass-type Pokemon need to survive."

Her eyes hardened. "When the sun's light went away, many thought our kind would die out. It makes us sick, to live in darkness. But there's hope for us, even now."

Treecko nodded, wide eyed and serious, already looking forward to the next time he could see Castform. He now understood why his neighbors had clamored for their strange visitor.

Eventually, he would find out that even Sunny Day paled in contrast to the real thing.

**Author's Note:**

> Based on the prompt 'a character has the nickname Sunbeam - who are they, and how did they get that name?'
> 
> First posted fic, comments are much appreciated!


End file.
